Saga of Astral Mysteries

"So we have probably an entire group of Bugbears somewhere around here... this could be problematic."

Valkorion muttered because Bugbears were not really his favorite type of enemy, as they were smarter and stronger than goblins, probably around the level of the Hobgoblins. 

Especially when the Bugbears were far more numerous and better armed than goblins and hobgoblins. Bugbears were more problematic to fight than goblins and even more than hobgoblins because they were more ferocious and brutal.

They were also better armed than goblins, that was for sure, and their combat instincts were far superior to them as well. That was another thing that was making them even more dangerous, so Valkorion was typically varied about the Bugbears, especially when they were in a large group.

"We need to deal with them; taking a detour would take us several days to reach the Green Peak..."

Ashe muttered as she finished studying the traces of the Bugbear's feet on the ground because everything had completed itself right now. If they decided to take the detour, it would take them several days to reach the Green Peak. 

So, they were right now standing in front of a dilemma if they should take the detour or to continue and potentially fight a whole bunch of Bugbears to death.

Neither of the two possibilities sounded really pleasant for Valkorion, not to mention there was also the possibility of being attacked when they were taking a detour to reach the Green Peak.

"How many of them are there? Can you take a guess based on the footsteps?"

Valkorion looked at Ashe, who nodded. She stood up, scrutinizing the area for further traces of the Bugbears. Seeing this, Valkorion suspected that she could probably be on the Hunter Pathway or Ranger Pathway because he was acquainted with the Beyonders on these Pathways and knew some of their general abilities.

Though the sole thing that he was aware of were the names of the lowest Sequneces, so that was all. For sure, Ashe was someone who was at Sequence 6; perhaps she was already preparing to advance to Sequence 5 and become Mid Sequence Beyonder; based on the aura she was giving him, he could tell that she was more powerful than he was.

A perk of the Valyrian Heritage of the Tenebraenys Family, as he inherited some sort of passive danger sense or whatever, which basically allowed him to tell when he was in danger or if his foe or any other person was more powerful than he was.

It was an inherent ability that had saved his life several times already; without it, he would be one of the countless unnamed corpses decaying somewhere in the Painted Mountains. 

Valkorion knew that when powerful Beyonder had children, they could pass some of their abilities down to their lineage. When it came to the Valyrians, especially to the Dragonlord Families, it was even more powerful due to the bond that the Dragon Lords had with their Dragons, as they had some of the Dragon Blood in their veins. 

Due to that, descendants of the Dragonlord Families were more powerful than the average people, even if they were not Beyonders. They may even exclude some particular traits, like resistance to Fire, inherent ability to control Fire, or very strong affinity for some Beyonder Pathway. 

Unfortunately for the young mixed-blood, he knew that this Tenebraenys Lineage was dormant and wasn't awakened, or else he would have obtained something better than just passive danger sense, which, in his opinion, was actually a very overpowered ability, in fact.

"Something between fifteen to eighteen."

She immediately answered; for her to tell how many enemies there were based on the footsets was the easiest thing to do. That was a relatively high number of Bugbears, but it was still manageable if there were two of them and if the Bugbears were not particularly strong either. 

Valkorion knew that Sequence 7 and Sequence 6 Extraordinary Creatures were rare in these parts of the Painted Mountains, as most of them resided exclusively in the inner areas of the Painted Mopuantisn.

The same could be said about the Bugbears that reached Sequnece 7 or Sequnece 6; the chance that they would encounter one of those here was very small; practically speaking, it was nearing zero.

"Those are indeed manageable numbers... so how shall we do it?"

He asked Ashe as they decided to fight against the Bugbears. Valkorion knew that such a fight could speed up the Acting Method of digesting the Warrior Potion, and he could have obtained some loot from the Bugbears. 

If it was a bigger group of the Bugbears, then it was for sure that they would have some nice things in their possession.

"Follow after them and wait until they rest; with my sharpshooting, I can take the ones that would seem to be leaders of the group even before they realize that something is going on and get them to a manageable number, during which you will attack and keep them occupied, preferably killing some along the way."

Valkorion didn't have much problem with Ashe's proposition for the elimination of the Bugbears because it was a good one. Their strongest card was their element of surprise, and Ashe, being probably the best archer in the entire Catharys, should be able to kill the leaders among the group of Bugbears during the ambush.

Afterward, he would attack the disorganized Bugbears, and together, they would finish them off one by one. 

Thus, after coming to an agreement, they followed the footsteps of the Bugbears until they arrived at something that looked like a small plateau in the mountains. It wasn't particularly large, but it was surrounded by huge rocks, making it very hard to bypass, and it was still large enough to provide accommodation to a few tens of people.

Thus, it was logical for the Bugbears to stop there as they were working on the crude tents or whatever they were using to sleep. 

Both Ashe and Valkorion knew that they needed to have the perfect place to attack the Bugbears; thus, they started searching for the position from which Ashe could have a good view of the Bugbears that were building there their tents.

It didn't take long for Ashe to find the appropriate place, after which, Valkorion left here there and went to the tight pathway that served as one of the entrances to the small plateau where the Bugbears were building their tents or whatever.

Meanwhile, Valkorion was going there, with his hand on the handle of the sword; Ashe was scrutinizing the Bugbears as she was searching for the ones that she suspected to be one of the commanding Bugbears. 

Bugbears, like the rest of the goblinoids, were very primitive, especially in the aspect of their society and how they did things. Essentially, the stronger the individual was, the more authority one would have. 

This authority would typically come with the military power over the members of the Tribe. 

Bugbears that were in charge of the other Bugbears were rather easily distinguishable because they typically had more weapons, better weapons, and a complete set of armor. 

Not to mention, they were also typically bigger and stronger.

Soon enough, Ashe found three Bugbears that were sold in far better armors than the rest of the group, not to mention one of them had even a complete set of armor covering his whole body. 

She redied her bow and prepared the bluish arrow for what was to come.

***

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